News/Thoughts

Monthly Archives: February 2017

This Is Americana

Back in 2004, while attending Merlefest, I had the idea for creating Americana Rhythm Music Magazine. One of the artists performing that weekend was a guy named Jim Lauderdale. He was (and is) an integral part of that fabulous event; and I remember thinking that if there was any one guy that exemplified the definition of an Americana artist, it ...

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Sunny Side Of The Mountain

The longer I cruise the edges of this genre of Americana string music that folks now call bluegrass, the more I hear folks make reference to Jimmy Martin. I freely admit he is a personality of which I know less about than I should. Even though I remember the golden radio days when there was plenty of Appalachian string music ...

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Americana Music On Tour

Last fall, our publisher spent several days at the Americana Music Association convention in Nashville, TN. While there, he made some great new friends in this growing Americana music business. One of the folks he met was a tour director—yes that’s what we said. Now, I expect that many of us have enjoyed taking bus tours. In fact, just this ...

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Blue Collar Bones and Busted Knuckles

Although Jason Springs has been performing music for years, he’s excited to be able to release his debut solo project this year titled Blue Collar Bones and Busted Knuckles. It’s a full on band project from this folk/roots, rock artist who hails from Danville, VA. Jason said he grew up in a musical family. “There was always some sort of ...

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Chris Jones – DJ, Songwriter, Troubadour

As a singer/songwriter, Chris Jones has been referred to as, “The wandering musician peddling tunes from town to town, sharing tales old and new.” If you haven’t had the opportunity to hear him live along with his band, The Night Drivers, perhaps you know his as one of the hosts heard on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction. The now Alberta Canada resident ...

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Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches

NYC based band, Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches are proud to be touting their new CD, Very Next Thing. Their music is an eclectic assemblage of country, bluegrass, western swing, rockabilly, blues, traditional jazz, dixieland, old-time music, folk, roots music and Americana. The band is led by multi-instrumentalist Nick Russo who comes from a very musical family. His dad, Rich ...

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Joseph Henry Turns Troubles Into Tunes

Joseph Henry says his sound sits comfortably between alternative-country and country-western blues. The Americana country/folk singer/songwriter makes his home in New Jersey but at the time we spoke, he was enjoying a stint in Nashville, TN, “taking in the sights and sounds, and playing around as much as I can,” he said. “Its always been a place in the back ...

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Mike Felten Vinyl To Folk

Former record store owner, Mike Felten, has parlayed the end of 30 plus years of hawking vinyl into a singer/songwriter career full time, and celebrates his most recent CD release, Diamonds and Televisions. Beginning in 1979, Mike began dabbling in selling records. He eventually opened several Record Emporium stores and developed a pretty strong internet sales following. He also worked ...

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Blue Mafia Colors It Differently

Bluegrass music has a new family. That’s right. It’s the Mafia. Blue Mafia, that is. Led by husband and wife Tony and Dara Wray, Blue Mafia was formed in 2011. Tony says, “Basically because my wife wanted to be in a band, too.” The result for this Indiana band was a highly acclaimed 2013 release, My Cold Heart. That led ...

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A Year Of Golden Moments

As we look back on an amazing year, we thought it would be fun to highlight some of the venues we performed at in 2016 and share a few road stories with you. We performed at festivals and concerts in 16 different States and the Yukon, met many new friends and made a lot of great memories. We want to ...

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